dinner date with manny pacquio

tonight is a great night. i cannot sleep until i have written something down about what happened.

stairway decorated in preparation for chinese new year!

 this was supposed to be an ordinary night. I got the pork out and readied the corn that i am going to prepare for dinner. i was just waiting for maria and while the pork is thawing on the sink, i turned on you tube to my favorite 30 minute full body work out.

listening to pacquio's testimony

i was not even done with the first leg warm ups when my phone rang and margie was asking telling me to get ready because we are going to have dinner with Manny Pacquio. yeps, THE Manny Pacquio. the one that has won 8 world division championships in boxing. i was at first hesitant because earlier i already said no as my budget wont allow me to have this date with Pacquio. but margie was insistent that we already have a ticket so i dressed hastily (5-6 mins) and then i am off. 

the dinner was held in the beautiful Marco Polo Plaza, Cebu. it was a very nice place. when we got there people were already eating and after saying hi's and hello's to some friends, we proceed to our dinner. 

we had this, "should-we-eat-dinner-first-or-should-we-take-pictures-now?" conversation but in the end our shyness won over and we finished dinner without one snap. it was a delicious one but also the fastest buffet dinner that I've had for a long time. 

please don't worry. i really did eat dinner. this was dessert. and no, i'm not deiting. lol

a confession. i am not really manny pacqiou's fan. every time he has a fight i tend to side with the opponent rationalizing that "poor-opponent-guy-is-gonna-get-knocked-down" real soon anyway. and also i was thinking that there will really come a time that manny would soon lose to someone. i mean he cant be champion forever right?

I was among the many in Christ-believing community, of course, that was very happy that manny has confessed that he has believed in Jesus Christ already and is a born-again christian. 

but i tell you that not until tonight, when i heard him talked about his new found faith (3 years is still new, right?) that i was utterly convinced that he is not just "doing Christianity" as a new hobby. when he talks, it is apparent how much he loves God and is trying to convey to his listeners the same love that he felt for his Saviour. it was really amazing.

he talks about being so hungry for God's word that he wanted to have bible study everyday. he said he comes home from his daily training more excited because he is going to be studying the word of God! he testified about how he nearly lost his wife and ending his life (rhyming there!) because he felt that he has no purpose anymore but that God found him and first talked to him in his dreams. that  dream was the reason he seek pastors/teachers to help him understand the Bible. he then studied the word of God with passion and curiosity and open-mindedness and slowly understood what his real purpose in life is.

finally! a picture with the champ himself! (left-right) I, Jore, Pacman, & Margie

he is a very simple and ordinary looking man. he speaks with such conviction and confessed that the only thing that keeps him going is knowing that God loves him and has died for him.

was dissatisfied with our photo op with pacman, so we have to do this. margie & i.

despite his millions, his houses, his cars, his fame, his authority, his ability to knocked down his opponents in the ring - everything that almost a lot of people wants and longs for - he remained unfulfilled, he was unsatisfied and is overwhelmed with discontentment - until he found everything that he did not know he was looking when he surrendered his life in Jesus Christ!

tonight, i am very blessed. i am encouraged. 

marco polo plaza hotel lobby

and i promise i will cheer for manny pacquio with all my heart in his next fight.